Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

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Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by forumuser641699 »

Those rackmount multitrack recorders that are made today like JoeCo BBR-1B 24, Tascam have one too.
Are there any that have punch in/out facilities for tracking, or are they all meant for just live capture and that's it?
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by Matt Houghton »

I don't think so, though could be wrong. The current RADAR might (it can run Pro Tools...). I know the JoeCo ones allow track arming at least, so you don't eat up all your storage with blank tracks.

If you go second hand, some of the older hard-disk based recorders can — eg. Alesis HD24 etc. Tascam, Fostex and Mackie had equivalent models. But not sure I'd go down that route now, since file transfers etc can be a bit of a pain.
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by Mike Stranks »

Matt Houghton wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:22 pm
If you go second hand, some of the older hard-disk based recorders can — eg. Alesis HD24 etc.... But not sure I'd go down that route now, since file transfers etc can be a bit of a pain.

Ah!

The Elf and I could tell a tale or two about trying to extract data digitally from one of those! ;):lol:
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by The Elf »

Mike Stranks wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:08 pm
Matt Houghton wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:22 pm
If you go second hand, some of the older hard-disk based recorders can — eg. Alesis HD24 etc.... But not sure I'd go down that route now, since file transfers etc can be a bit of a pain.

The Elf and I could tell a tale or two about trying to extract data digitally from one of those! ;):lol:

We certainly could! If you're going the Alesis route I hope you have an old Windows XP computer to hand and a few long novels to read while it extracts...
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by resistorman »

The Elf wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:21 pm
Mike Stranks wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:08 pm
Matt Houghton wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:22 pm
If you go second hand, some of the older hard-disk based recorders can — eg. Alesis HD24 etc.... But not sure I'd go down that route now, since file transfers etc can be a bit of a pain.

The Elf and I could tell a tale or two about trying to extract data digitally from one of those! ;):lol:

We certainly could! If you're going the Alesis route I hope you have an old Windows XP computer to hand and a few long novels to read while it extracts...

I had a firewire dongle thingy that fit on the drive that worked relatively quickly. At least compared to the default network connection!
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by The Elf »

resistorman wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:29 pm
The Elf wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:21 pm
Mike Stranks wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:08 pm
Matt Houghton wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:22 pm
If you go second hand, some of the older hard-disk based recorders can — eg. Alesis HD24 etc.... But not sure I'd go down that route now, since file transfers etc can be a bit of a pain.

The Elf and I could tell a tale or two about trying to extract data digitally from one of those! ;):lol:

We certainly could! If you're going the Alesis route I hope you have an old Windows XP computer to hand and a few long novels to read while it extracts...

I had a firewire dongle thingy that fit on the drive that worked relatively quickly. At least compared to the default network connection!

That's precisely the device we are talking about! It requires Windows XP and patience.
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by forumuser641699 »

ok lads, pity, I was hoping a digital mixer front end to one of these modern multitracks would make for a nice dawless system.
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by The Elf »

I really don't understand why people get preoccupied with avoiding DAWs. A smart guy once said "You can hammer nails in with your fist, but the smart guy uses a hammer - it's less painful".
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by forumuser641699 »

The Elf wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:26 pm I really don't understand why people get preoccupied with avoiding DAWs. A smart guy once said "You can hammer nails in with your fist, but the smart guy uses a hammer - it's less painful".

It's really quite simple. I've been battling with Daws and their computer hosts for the last 20 years when I first gave up dedicated hardware for the new approach. At first the wonderment of editing on the fly, automation, plugins seemed like heaven.
But as the years went on so did the ££££££££££££££, endless fecking updates, endless errors, buffers errors, OS update, incompatibility this incompatibility that but despite all that do you know what topped it all?
My creativity left. When ever inspiration would strike and I was in the mood, I'd be let down by the technology. Or the temptation to check my email, open up the browser on my tool was more often than not the concentration breaker.
And the endless fix it later, never actually commit, just in case, kills creativity. And that bloody screen, god I hate it, it sucks the life out of a room. We mix with our eyes now.

So after years of frustration I made a choice this year. I dug out my old Yamaha AW4416 workstation. Something I've not used for 20 years but I kept it because I had fond memories of loving working on it.
I've done more with that machine in the last few months than I've done in years. God it's so nice to have something with a power on switch that's ready to go, it never crashes, it never needs updating. Tracking on it is just pure pleasure, I'm having fun again, I enjoy it, I look forward to working again, being creative.

I still have the Daw. It's now a tool, I switch it on only when I need to edit something or require a specific plugin, I fly the audio out via adat and back into the AW4416 and the computer is turned off. You'd be surprised how little you actually use the computer once you hand over the central task of tracking and mixing to dedicated hardware. And it just sounds better too. I've found a hybrid approach that's working.
Sadly the current workstations like Zoom live, Tascam Model desks just are not in the same league as the Yamaha AW4416 and there's no sign of Yamaha bringing it back into production. But my thinking of using one of their digital desks with a hardware multi track might have been a solution should the AW4416 expire.

So that's why. As another smart guy once said; why do I need a hammer that I can check my email on when all I want to do is hammering?
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by The Elf »

I just hope you find something that works for you. :thumbup:
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by Mixedup »

The Elf wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:20 pm
resistorman wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:29 pm I had a firewire dongle thingy that fit on the drive that worked relatively quickly. At least compared to the default network connection!

That's precisely the device we are talking about! It requires Windows XP and patience.

2nd hand Win XP laptop with XP Pro and a Firewire port is about £25, so it's not so problematic, as long as you're prepared to maintain a machine for this purpose.

Should also be able to use HD Tools and a USB/IDE adapter on Win 7 and Win 10 if you ignore the prompts to format the drive. You can't use the hot swap caddy for that though; you need to get at the drive inside to do the transfers, which makes it more fiddly.

There's Ethernet too, though it's a v old standard on the HD24 and thus v slow. But if you're organised and not in a hurry you can leave that transferring in the background.

Depending on how you work and how long your recordings, you can also just record over ADAT in real time (on any OS). Which is what I've generally done. Though of course you need a device with three+ ADAT ports if you want to transfer all 24 channels this way. eg RME Digiface USB.

I use the HD24 rarely. But there's still something pleasant about recording with just my mixer and this, without the pale glow of a screen and all the visual distractions of a DAW. (Could never *mix* that way now though :lol: )
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Re: Those rackmount multitrack recorders?

Post by The Elf »

Mixedup wrote: Wed Dec 07, 2022 4:11 pm
The Elf wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:20 pm
resistorman wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:29 pm I had a firewire dongle thingy that fit on the drive that worked relatively quickly. At least compared to the default network connection!

That's precisely the device we are talking about! It requires Windows XP and patience.

2nd hand Win XP laptop with XP Pro and a Firewire port is about £25, so it's not so problematic, as long as you're prepared to maintain a machine for this purpose.

Which is precisely what I do. But strewth... :?:headbang:
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